Puerto Rico diocese welcomes Presiding Bishop for centennial celebration
Episcopal News Service, Ponce, Puerto Rico. October 22, 2007 [102207-02]
Thomas Mansella, Translation coordinator for the Episcopal Church, traveled to Puerto Rico to join the diocese's centennial celebrations
An image gallery of the Episcopal Diocese of Puerto Rico's centennial celebration and a historic visit to the island's Capitol Building is available here.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori presided and preached at an October 21 Festal Eucharist celebrating the 100th diocesan convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Puerto Rico, and the centennial of the health care services of the diocese, with St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, which has developed into the largest nonprofit health care organization in the country.
The twin centennial celebration, held at the Sports and Recreation Complex of the Universidad Interamericana, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, welcomed more than 2,000 delegates and representatives from all parishes, missions, and diocesan institutions, including Puerto Rico Bishop David Andres Alvarez and officers and representatives of the staff and officers of the hospitals, clinics, and homes of Servicios de Salud Episcopales (Episcopal Healthcare Services, a wholly owned diocesan corporation). International guests, including bishops from Province IX of the Episcopal Church and staff from the Episcopal Church Center, were also in attendence.
"Continue the struggle for peace and justice until the dawn of a new day, as the struggle cannot end until the whole world can enjoy peace and justice," Jefferts Schori said during her sermon. "Achieving that will require our best efforts…We need to be persistent in our struggle until freedom and abundant life is won for all."
The celebration began with a procession that included 100 children, representing diocesan schools, carrying posters marking significant events in the diocese's history. The procession also included representatives of the 48 parishes and missions carrying their banners, diocesan staff, and guests, including Colombia Bishop Francisco Duque Gómez, Ecuador Litoral Bishop Alfredo Morante España, and Venezuela Bishop Orlando Guerrero. Attending from the Episcopal Church Center staff were the Rev. Canon Anthony Guillen, Latino/Hispanic missioner; the Rev. Canon Juan I. Marquez, Latin American and Caribbean partnership officer for the Anglican and Global Relations Office; and the Rev. Thomas Mansella, coordinator of Translation Services.
Jefferts Schori met with Province IX bishops October 18, including Honduras Bishop Lloyd E. Allen, president of Province IX; Dominican Republic Bishop Julio C. Holguín; as well as España, Guerrero, and Duque Gómez.
During their meeting, the bishops asked Jefferts Schori about the reorganization of the Episcopal Church Center, and she reassured them that the work, still in progress, is in line with priorities of the General Convention and will strengthen the Hispanic/Latino ministries of the Church.
Historic Visit
Jefferts Schori, Alvarez, and other guests were driven to San Juan October 19 for a historic visit to the island's Capitol Building, which was dedicated on June 29, 1925. After a tour of the magnificent building, built in marble from Georgia, other states and Italy, Jefferts Schori was received by the Hon. Kenneth D. McClintock Hernandez, 13th President of Puerto Rico's Senate and an active Episcopalian.
At 1:30 p.m., McClintock presided over the Senate, and asked the Sergeant-At-Arms to escort Jefferts Schori to deliver the Senate's opening invocation. Afterwards, she was invited to sit with McClintock and Speaker of the House, Hon. José Aponte Hernández, at the dais. Alvarez, visiting bishops, and other guests were seated on the Senate's floor, in a specially set front row.
Jefferts Schori, in addressing the Senate, said she hopes that "the lawmakers endeavor in building up a new house, a just society, large enough so not even one is left out."
Welcoming remarks were made by the leaders of the three main political parties, as well as Hernández and McClintock.
Since being elected Presiding Bishop, it is the first time that Jefferts Schori has been invited to lead a legislative body in prayer, and it is the first time that Puerto Rico's Senate hosted a Presiding Bishop to lead them in prayer.
Caring of body and soul
"I am most impressed with the vitality of the diocese, and its dedication to caring for the whole person -- body, mind, and soul -- which, after all, is what salvation really means," said Jefferts Schori. Such effort and commitment is evident in the new 900,000 sq. ft. Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and Medical Office Building, attached to the new St. Luke's Church, with seating for 500 persons.
Javier Malave, the Hospital's chief executive officer, led the Presiding Bishop and other guests in a tour of the new 50 beds in the state of the art Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and medical facility. Malave proudly explained to the visitors that the new wing is the largest cardiac ICU in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and many medical centers located on the mainland's East coast. The 100-year-old St. Luke's Hospital is a 427-beds tertiary-care medical center, and as such receives patients from the southwest and southeast parts of the island, and from many other Caribbean nations.
St. Luke's Church, adjacent to the hospital is a new diocesan church plant, and in a few months has reached an average Sunday attendance of almost 200 persons. "The Episcopal Church is growing, and nowhere else is the growth faster and more evident than in my diocese and the other dioceses of Province IX," said Alvarez. The Hospital and our Church, side by side, are witness to our dedication to care for "body and soul."
Strategic Alliance
Together, the Diocese of Puerto Rico and the Inter-American University are launching the first fully accredited Spanish language Clinical Pastoral Education training program for seminarians and clergy. The program is geared to Spanish-speaking trainees and to those interested in developing clinical pastoral skills in a state-of-the art facility in a Hispanic/Latino setting.
The Presbyterian background Inter-American University was established in 1912, and has 44,000 students in Puerto Rico, the largest education university in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Ponce's Campus, with more than 5,500 students is pioneering Spanish language distance education degree programs. The "electronic campus" has 135 registered students from Asia (Iraq and Afghanistan) to South America (Peru) to the mainland U.S.
Dr. Vilma E. Colón, dean of the University Ponce's Campus, proposed a strategic alliance with the Diocese of Puerto Rico to further the launching of "Cyber-Centers" based in Churches and other Episcopal institutions to further the education of Spanish-speaking college students.
"For too long Colleges have expected students to come to the Campus. It is time for the Campus to come to where the students are," said Colón.
Centennial Convention
About 200 people attended the Diocesan Centennial Assembly. The members gathered to deal with the "nitty-gritty business" of the Church, yet Alvarez was very proud to introduce to the diocesan fellowship a new mission congregation, Our Lady of Walsingham, joining the diocese's 47 parishes and missions. Alvarez noted that the diocese is "working hard planting four new missions."
During his convention address, Alvarez, 66, announced that he is seeking the diocese's approval for starting the process of calling a bishop coadjutor, whom he hopes may be consecrated sometime in early 2009.